Rentaro got up, slightly annoyed that he had to, and putting one knee on the ground he put a hand on his knee and forced himself to his feet. He let out shallow, short breaths like a wounded animal. His whole body felt like a bundle of pain nerves. Just breathing in made his lungs hurt. Saliva mixed with dark red blood dripped from his mouth, and he spit blood on the ground. He wiped his mouth. This was no time for strong emotions. Rentaro still had something he had to do.
Putting his hand on the wall, he went down eight flights of stairs, where Tina was lying. Rentaro aimed his gun between Tina’s brows as he approached her. Tina’s clothes were tattered, and she had a number of broken bones. She had gotten a good hit from a Super-Varanium axe kick, so her body probably wouldn’t do what she wanted it to do for a while.
Tina wheezed, tilting just her head toward him, opening her eyes slightly to look at Rentaro. “Ren…taro… Please…finish me…off…”
Rentaro didn’t say anything. His eyes met Tina’s. His strong feelings of victory disappeared, and he didn’t feel angry or sad, either. The only thing left was emptiness.
Tina continued her disconnected groans. “My…body…is a mass of…technology… I cannot live…and be caught…by another country…”
Kill her. If he did so, he would be able to completely remove the threat to the Seitenshi. Either way, if he handed her over to the police, he didn’t think an Initiator who attempted to assassinate a national ruler would be treated very well. Even more worrisome was what the man pulling her strings, Ain Rand, was after. Putting together what Sumire had said, Rand didn’t think of humans as human. It wouldn’t be strange for a man like that to have ordered Tina to kill herself immediately after being defeated. If Rand found out that she had not chosen to die, then it was possible that Tina would be the next assassination target.
No matter what happened, Rentaro had a hard time seeing a bright future for Tina after she survived today.
Rentaro put strength into the finger on the trigger of his gun. Finally, he nodded once with resolve and closed his eyes. He put his gun away, helped Tina up, and supported her with his shoulder.
Tina’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “Why…?”
“I didn’t fight because I wanted to kill you.” Rentaro kept his gaze in front of him and focused on the hospital beyond the wall. “Besides, you saved Enju… Thank you. I kept wanting to tell you that. I’ll make sure they don’t treat you badly!” Through his shoulder, he could feel Tina shaking, and then next to him, he heard the sound of small sobs leaking out. Rentaro tried to pretend not to notice as something hot and wet soaked his shoulder.
“I’ve lost everything. Even though all I had was my fighting ability, I lost, so now everything is gone.”
Rentaro didn’t say anything.
“Rentaro… I don’t know anything anymore. Why did things turn out this way…? What should I do…? I have no idea. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. My life keeps turning strange, so now I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do……”
“Don’t talk. It’ll make your injuries worse.” And then, Rentaro, supporting Tina with his shoulder, walked down the long flight of stairs, one step at a time. The first floor was a nest of explosives, as Rentaro had imagined, but luckily, they were not the type that exploded automatically when triggered by movement. They were all the remote control type, so since Tina was out of commission, it didn’t seem like they would be a problem.
When they left the moldy building, they were met with fresh air and moonlight. Rentaro lifted his face.
First, to the hospital.
“I’ll have you take responsibility for this.” Surprised, he looked next to him and saw Tina smiling weakly with her eyes swollen from crying. “You defeated me, so I’ll have you take responsibility for that.”
Rentaro was taken aback for a moment, but he soon nodded cheerfully. “All right, I will.”
Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot, and Tina fell to her knees.
“Ah………” Tina looked in disbelief at the black hole that had opened up in her chest. The fresh blood leaking from the hole slowly soaked into her clothes. Tina moved her slightly gaping mouth a little, but couldn’t speak as she looked up at Rentaro, then tilted her head in embarrassment as she tried to smile.
A man approached them briskly, wearing a uniform cap with a white cape, shooting a Luger pistol. Fresh blood spouted from Tina’s throat, and she fell backward. Yasuwaki kicked Tina’s stomach hard, sending her body lightly into the air. It landed with a thump when it fell. The whole scene was like a bad joke.
“I can’t believe you’re having so much trouble with a little killer!” said Yasuwaki mockingly.
What’s he doing here…? His brain numb, Rentaro tilted his head in confusion.
Yasuwaki looked in his direction, as if to answer his question. “I safely escorted the Lady Seitenshi to her conference. She is probably in the middle of talks right now. I need to get back before the conference ends, so I don’t have a lot of time. More importantly—” Yasuwaki stopped and grinned evilly. “What’s with that expression? I just disposed of a piece of trash for you. Why don’t you thank me for it?”
When Rentaro heard those words, rage pierced his spine, and his brain lit on fire. “I’ll kill you!” Just as he put his hand to his holster to draw his gun, there was a rustle and an attack from behind. Rentaro gasped as the air was squeezed from his lungs. He looked back and saw a friend of Yasuwaki’s, one of the Seitenshi’s personal guard, with a fist buried in his back. Panting, Rentaro smashed his attacker’s chin with a backward punch, but someone else held down his hips and kicked his legs out from under him. Just as he thought the ground was approaching, a strong force pushed his head down and slammed it into the ground.
A sharp pain shot through his arm, and looking back with effort, he saw that three other guards were on his back, pinning his arms back. Gritting his teeth so hard he thought he might crack a tooth, he groaned and flailed hard, but they didn’t loosen their hold at all. “Yasuwakiiiiiii! You bastard!”
Yasuwaki laughed. “This is exactly what it means to profit from someone else’s fight.”
Just then, Tina’s body curved, and she coughed up blood.
Tina! She’s alive!
After Yasuwaki looked at his own Luger pistol, he looked at Tina warily. “It really is hard to kill them without Varanium bullets.” Then, looking like he just thought of something, he smiled faintly at his friends. “Hey guys, wanna do a biology experiment? The topic is How many shots does it take to kill a Red-Eye with lead bullets?”
The other guards’ shoulders shook, and they started snickering.
Stepping over Tina’s prone body, Yasuwaki pulled the trigger of his gun a few times. Tina’s body danced, and fresh blood gushed out and got on Yasuwaki’s face. Tina’s legs became taut, and they kicked at the ground.
Rentaro yelled. “Stop it…! I’ll kill you, Yasuwakiiiiii! You bastard…! I’ll kill youuuuuu!”
Yasuwaki spread his hands and laughed maniacally. “That’s it! That’s the expression I wanted to see, Rentaro Satomi!” He kept laughing. Yasuwaki lifted the muzzle of his gun and aimed between Tina’s eyes. “It’s time for the finale!”
“That’s enough!”
The roar of the dignified voice made every person at the scene freeze.
Yasuwaki, his subordinate guards, and everyone else froze with their mouths gaping, holding their breaths and looking in the same direction.
“Lady Seitenshi……,” someone muttered.
Her beauty was like that of glittering stars, but her piercingly powerful eyes were like lightning. This authority of pure white wasn’t supposed to be here—but she was.
Yasuwaki let his gun drop and turned pale as he stepped back.
The binds on Rentaro loosened, and he stood up in a daze. Why was she here right now? Wasn’t she in the middle of a conference?
Yasuwaki seemed to have the same questions and started saying agitatedly, �
��Why in the world…?”
“I heard that you all were acting without permission, so I excused myself from the meeting with President Saitake to come here.”
“Impossible! I cannot believe you threw away a conference with the ruler of Osaka Area for the sake of a mere civsec officer!”
“To me, Satomi is not just a mere civsec officer. And I cannot overlook your violence any longer.”
The Seitenshi looked sideways at Rentaro. “Satomi, please tell me. You saved my life. What is it that you wish for in return?”
What did he want? He made a hard fist. It was obvious. “I want power! I want the power to protect the people I care about!”
The Seitenshi kept her eyes shut for a while. Finally, she opened her eyes and said resonantly, “Satomi, with power comes responsibility. You must not forget that when you swing your sword, it leaves blood behind it. With too much power, one becomes a tyrant, and with too much responsibility, one’s heart breaks. From the beginning of the universe, power and responsibility has never been balanced. But you must find that balance.” She paused. “Very well, I will give you that power.”
The dignified voice resonated in the night sky. “With my prerogative as ruler of Tokyo Area, I waive the written appointment of the IISO and hereby promote Rentaro Satomi from Rank 1,000 to Rank 300. Satomi’s top-secret information access key is now at Level 5, and his pseudo-rank has been promoted to first lieutenant. In other words, you are now one rank above Yasuwaki. Do you understand what that means?”
“Yes,” said Rentaro.
“Justice without power is not worth anything. Become stronger, Satomi, stronger than anyone.”
Rentaro raised his face quietly and the personal guards froze, with Yasuwaki losing all color in his face. Rentaro drew his XD gun and fired three times. One hit Yasuwaki’s right shoulder, the second hit his side, and the last blew off the thumb of his right hand from the joint.
“Arghhhhhhhhh!” Yasuwaki screamed.
Rentaro looked coldly sideways at the flustered guards who pointed their guns at him. “Who do you think you’re pointing your guns at?”
Surprised, the guards stopped moving.
Rentaro passed by them to stand in front of Yasuwaki, looking down at him. Yasuwaki shuddered, awestruck, and tried desperately to back away. “Ahhhhhh… D-don’t come near me… Don’t come near meeeeeee!”
Rentaro, with the full moon behind him, raised the muzzle of his gun and aimed at Yasuwaki. His heart was boiling like magma, but his voice was frozen at absolute zero.
“Get out of my sight, and never come near Tina again. If you refuse, I will shoot you to death here and now for refusing to obey orders from a superior officer.”
EPILOGUE THE PLACE I CALL HOME
A while after the last bell rang, students left in twos and threes from the Magata High School gate. In the midst of them, there was also a mummified Rentaro Satomi, who had bandages wrapped around his head and various other places on his body. Rentaro put his bag on his back and hunched his shoulders as he walked out the gate and headed toward the shopping district following the highway, turning twice on the street in front of the supermarket and continuing on the narrow path of the shortcut.
He suddenly stopped walking and tilted his head. Sunlight filtered diagonally through the leaves on the tip of the branch of the beech tree on the other side of the fence as they blinked, rustling in the wind.
Sighing, he started walking again. As Rentaro walked, he went over all the things that had happened to him in succession recently.
It had been a week since everything had happened. The other day, there was an official notice from the IISO that publicly raised Rentaro’s and Enju’s rank to 300. Since there was no flashy ceremony to confer his rank like there had been for the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident, only those close to them knew about their rise. He gave his access key to Sumire, so she would probably dredge up the information afforded a Level 5 for him soon.
Sumire said, stunned, “I can’t believe you had the nerve to do something as idiotic as defeat a Rank 98 by yourself.” Miori also had a similar reaction, but she was even more stubborn in that she was already seriously considering putting him to use in a Shiba Heavy Weapons billboard.
Even more surprising was the Seitenshi, who really did leave her conference with Saitake to come rushing to Rentaro’s side. Apparently, Saitake had left in a fit of anger and returned to Osaka Area in a huff.
In the end, there was no material evidence linking Saitake to Rand. According to Kisara, when there is an order for this kind of assassination, there are usually a number of people in between, and even if the end of the chain is caught, that does not always lead to the original client. If what she said was true, then even if they squeezed Tina for answers, the chances that it would lead them to Saitake were very low.
It was like when someone wanted to do something malicious on the Internet, they would use a decoy server as a springboard until they were found out. Then, they would cut their ties with that server. Tina was the springboard. And like a lizard getting rid of its tail, she was immediately cut off and thrown away.
Even though he knew who the culprit was, he couldn’t do anything about it. He’d gotten a taste of this during the terrorist incident before, when he faced off against Kikunojo Tendo.
Kikunojo Tendo—
When Rentaro thought about that man, it always brought up conflicted emotions. Kikunojo loved and respected the Seitenshi and acted as her capable aide. At the same time, he also acted on his extreme prejudice against the Gastrea. Those two souls lived in one body at the same time.
People say that humans are basically good or evil. However, in the end, humans were not good or evil. Based on their positions and values those two could interchange dizzyingly within one person.
So for a moment, imagine the absence of good. How would one define the evil that should be defeated? Where would one draw the line between good and evil?
Rentaro thrust both hands in his pockets as he tilted his head to look at the sky. The only thing that was clear was that Rentaro was definitely not of the same minds as Saitake or Kikunojo, who justified the means with their goals. He would probably have to go up against them again sometime. When that time came, if he could not decide what stance to take, that would likely become a chink in his armor.
It was about time he also solidified his position.
Even though Rentaro didn’t remember where he walked or how he got there, before he knew it, he was standing in front of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Habit was a fearsome thing.
The dear old edifice, Happy Building, had undergone a big change. Thanks to Tina and Kisara going wild, there were pieces breaking off here and there, and the second-floor cabaret seemed to still be open, covered with waterproof blue sheets.
Aimlessly climbing the stairs, Rentaro suddenly wondered if Tina was doing okay.
Tina had survived after her operation. In an unprecedented measure, she had been given over to the Seitenshi’s personal care, and was under house arrest at the Seitenshi’s palace undergoing an investigation. He hoped that the sentence she received would be generous.
He lightened his mood as he went through the door of the office and was greeted with “Oh, Satomi” and “Rentaro!”—the voices of the recovered Kisara and Enju.
With the anesthetic out of her system, Enju was more or less completely healed, and now that she was out of the hospital, she was back to her usual self. Suddenly, the doctor’s words in the hospital room came back to his mind. “There is one thing we must tell you, Satomi. About your Initiator’s body’s corrosion rate…”
In front of him, Enju looked at him puzzled with her wide eyes. “What is the matter, Rentaro? Is there something on my face?”
Rentaro looked at her in silence, finally saying, “No, I was just thinking that the atmosphere of the office is completely different when you’re here, compared to when you’re not.”
Enju looked surprised for a moment, and
then laughed. “I see, I see.”
Rentaro shook his head to clear it. As he plunked down on the sofa to receive clients and stretched, he heard his bones and joints popping and creaking.
Time to do some more profitless work today again!
“Rentaro, here’s some water.”
“Oh, thanks. That’s thoughtful of you, Tina.” He took a gulp of water before he realized what had happened, and the next instant, he spurted water magnificently from his mouth and nose.
The girl gave a scream as she covered just her face with the tray to protect it from the water. Moving the tray aside a little, she looked up at him.
Blond, with slightly sleepy eyes. It was Tina. There was no mistaking it.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Why are you here?” Rentaro said. He had copied her tone of voice without thinking.
Kisara was all smiles as she went to stand behind Tina and put her hands on the girl’s shoulders, looking at him. “I hired her,” she said in a singsong voice, laughing.
“What do you mean, you hired her…”
If he remembered correctly, Kisara had been half-riddled with holes with a Gatling gun, and Enju had had a hole blown out of her stomach from an antitank rifle. Rentaro had had antitank bullets grazing him at a close distance. Honestly, he was about to cry. Were the girls’ memories so bad that they forgot so quickly about almost getting killed? Or did Kisara and Enju get hit in the head so much by Tina without his knowledge that there was now a problem with their brains? The poor things.
“Hey, Satomi!” Kisara said. “What’s with that look? After Tina was discharged, she had no home to go back to. Don’t you feel bad for her?”
“But…she’s a professional killer,” said Rentaro.
“I do not mind it!” Enju was all smiles as she waved and put her hand on her hip, puffing out her chest. “I finally have a junior. You can call me Miss Enju.”
Against a Perfect Sniper Page 20